Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The NRA has gone around the bend; have faith the American people are too smart and too good hearted to follow

The NRA's latest effort to soil the nation's good intentioned soul-searching debate about crafting reasonable gun laws was just awful. Believe it or not, they concocted an advertisement using the president's two school age daughters as fodder. They get secret service protection, the NRA bullies whined, but your kid is forced to go to school in a gun-free zone.

The problems with this are so big and so many, the temptation is to bore the reader with them. Of course the president's children get protection. The world is full of crazies and terrorists and spies and their lives cannot be left to chance. The possibility of the president's children being held for ransom are beyond thinking. Remember, Eisenhower was not allowed to fight the battle of D-Day -- even though he planned it and ran it -- for precisely that reason, and it is no doubt fair to think Ike could protect himself in battle.

OK, that's enough. Any thinking person will already have a dozen refutations of this latest bit of silliness from the NRA.

And, thinking person is exactly the point. The day must come -- and let's hope it has finally arrived -- when the American people see this radical group for what it is: An organization of generally decent and intelligent citizens headed by leadership that has gone around the bend. Let's hope this is the day the rank and file say, 'This is enough... we're not following you off the cliff... this isn't what I signed up for.'

You know what ended Joe McCarthy's around-the-bend witch hunt? Television. They put him and his congressional hearings on television -- this unstable little man with the list of Commies in his pocket belittling stately looking generals... fighting men fresh from war. The American people could finally see the little man in action and they didn't like what they saw.

When they see this latest advertisement, let's hope they have the same reaction. Whoa! This isn't what I believe. This isn't the tone I want to set. This is so low, so slimy, so around the bend, and such a dangerous invitation to violence against children -- the president's very real children -- I don't want to be represented by these people anymore. Let's hope it makes them think twice before they put on their NRA jackets tomorrow, because the vast majority of these people must find this latest move repugnant.

2 comments:

Sidwell Friends school had a staff of 9 armed guards. Whatever secret service agents are there is another issue entirely. The staff of 9 are NOT due to Obama’s kids being there. That school has had armed guards long before Obama showed up.

More ignorance on the left… Either willingly, or not, it’s ignorance nevetheless.

Thanks, Anon, for trying to straighten me out, but it didn't take. Now, I know my source here will not be persuasive for you, but the Washington Post did a piece today on this Internet claim about armed security guards. Here's their research:

"This is based on the fact that the online directory for Sidwell Friends lists 11 people as working in the Security Department. Five are listed as “special police officer,” while two are listed as “on call special police officer,” which presumably means they do not work full-time. The directory also lists two weekend shift supervisors, one security officer and the chief of security.

"Under the District of Columbia General Order 308.7, a special police officer is a private commissioned police officer with arrest powers in the area that he or she protects. They may also be authorized to bear firearms — but it is not required. Security officers, by contrast, cannot carry firearms and in effect are watchmen. So five to seven security personnel in theory could be licensed to carry firearms.”Now, the money quote:“But we spoke to parents who said they had never seen a guard on campus with a weapon. And Ellis Turner, associate head of Sidwell Friends, told us emphatically: “Sidwell Friends security officers do not carry guns.”

The Post’s conclusion is that because the school has three campuses, the truth is each campus may have two UNARMED security guards on duty at any time.